 Christchurch
based three piece featuring
Failsafe's Rob Mayes - Bass
/ Guitar, Kevin Stokes - Guitar
/Vocals, and Stephen Birss
- Drums.
The band was formed out of
the ashes of 1986 - 87 band
Heartland featuring all three
members. Birss and Stokes going
on to work on My Wild Violet,
with Mayes eventually rejoining
the band in early 1988. The
band performed under various
names before settling on Dolphin,
including support slots for
Bailterspace
and JPSE before Mayes left
for a world tour as the Bats
Sound Engineer.
Just prior to Mayes' May departure
the band recorded 5 songs,
one (When I Touch You) being
included on the band's first
release, the Hold Touch EP,
in late 1988 (the rest appear
on the 2005 collection EPs).
Both Mayes and Stokes were
local sound engineers and the
band recorded and produced
all their own work.
Mayes also designed all the
bands artwork and released
and distributed their material
on his own label Failsafe Records.
Lead track 'If
Only I Could Hold You (Once
Again)' making
NZ playlists and charts including
national television's "CV
Campus Radio Chart". This
song also features on the Pagan
Records 'alternative' compilation "Positive
Vibrations"; Dolphin's
first and only vinyl appearance.
The band's music has been
described as Jagged-edged Pop,
a label the band don't disagree
with, basing their songs on
melody and power.
Initially the band was heavily
influenced by Husker Du, (especially
songs penned by Stokes, a big
fan of them), Jesus and Mary
Chain and Echo And The Bunnymen.
Stokes was a strong guitarist
after a long history of guitaring,
starting at age 14 in Timaru
rock bands including the ominously-titled
Sacred Morgue, and Dawn Patrol.
Stokes was technically skilled
and fluent in many styles of
guitaring, which he completely
unlearnt to approach his work
with Dolphin, developing his
own strongly chord-based style,
incorporating melodic lead
lines played simultaneously
over the top of chords, sounding
like 2 guitarists and producing
a hefty wall of sound.
Birss and Mayes were both
big fans of the British underground
and alternative scene and had
worked together in many previous
bands. Mayes' writing style
was often darker and more rhythm-based,
but with strong and emotive
melodic lines. Mayes used lots
of bass chords, and strummed
his bass like a guitar. Mayes
later incorporated full-on
bass chords with distortion,
adding to Dolphin's reputation
as a 'Wall Of Sound' pop band.
The second Cassingle 'Promise'
was released in February of
1988 and contained four songs
recorded at Christchurch's
Audio Access Studios on 8 track.
(all available on the
EPS CD reissue)
Drummer Birss temporarily
left the band after group tension
made it difficult for them
to continue working together.
He was replaced with Shane
Bolingford (Pleasure Boys,
Breathing Cage) originally
from Gisborne. Shane drummed
with Dolphin for 3 months but
by mutual consent Birss returned
to the bands drumming stool.
Dolphin embarked on a short
nationwide tour including 2
shows in Dunedin, followed
by a trip to Auckland on the
15 - 16th of December with
Catherine Wheel in tow, playing
The Venue (a club managed by
now famous ator Russell Crow).
Live the band made use of
slide projection visuals and
the band became known for their
giant slide shows, featuring
Mayes' widescreen abstract
images.
Dolphin's third Cassingle
'Anything At All' was released
in late 1989 featuring another
4 songs.
In February of 1990 the band
embarked on the recording of
their first album, building
a purpose-built studio in the
local horticultural hall. The
band flew out American engineer
/ producer Andrew Speigelman
(personal friend of Stokes
and a freelance engineer at
Hendrix-built Electric Ladyland
studios in NYC) to record the
band so Stokes and Mayes could
concentrate on their playing.
Speigelman turned out to know
less than Mayes and Stokes
about recording live rock music.
The band played a few national
dates touring with Speigelman
as engineer, including a date
at Wellington's Car Park Venue
and a Toga Party at Palmerston
North's Massey University orientation
festival, where Speigelman
took on truly Spinal Tap proportions,
slightly in contrast to the
bands more reserved Christchurch
manner.
This continued amusingly during
the initial setup of the studio
including some bizarre tales
of Speigelman picking up young
Christchurch lasses and entertaining
them on the studio's mixing
desk.
Speigelmen's antics eventually
caused strain with the dedicated
and serious Dolphin. Speigelman
spent 5 out of the 7 tracking
days working on getting a viable
drum sound with
the band tracking all of their
songs in one 12 hour
session.
After the tracking session
Speigelman returned to America,
and Mayes and Stokes carried
on to finish the recordings,
building another studio at
the Arts Centre; the Horticultural
Hall being scheduled for demolition
within days of the first sessions
completion.
The band completed and mixed
most of the 22 tracks they
undertook to record, but delays
with touch-up recording and
mixing saw the album left unfinished.
Stokes and wife left for a
planned spell in the UK in
October 1990, Stokes seeking
to expand on his career in
sound engineering. The plan
was for Mayes to complete recording
and mixing the album and the
band would continue at a later
date. The album was not completed
until April of 1995, Mayes
being sidetracked by his work
with subsequent groups Throw
and Springloader and his work
on the Failsafe label.
The band released a double
CD containing the material
they had started in 1990, and
Stokes returned temporarily
to perform one show in support
of the release.
Birss returned as drummer
for the third time, and the
band found they clicked on
all cylinders, writing new
material in the 3 rehearsals
before their performance at
Quadraphenia nightclub in Christchurch.
The band presented an impressive
set of live energy pop, and
the set was videoed, spawning
3 videos for tracks Miss, No
Question, and Tell You Tomorrow.
Mayes' other band Springloader
played their last Christchurch
gig in support of Dolphin.
The band recorded another
five songs before Stokes returned
to London and Mayes and Birss
planned to join Stokes in London
to pursue their music together.
Mayes and Birss completed
one more session of recordings
before Mayes departure to take
over rhythm tracks for Stokes
and Mayes to work on while
awaiting the arrival of Birss.
Mayes closed down his Failsafe
label operations in NZ and
moved to London in October
of that year, where Stokes
and Mayes slowly worked on
finishing the recording of
new material. In February they
had completed 4 songs to demo
level and started shopping
for a label deal by sending
out cassettes to London-based
labels.
In April 1996 Stokes and Mayes
were working on material for
Mayes' band Throw at a Richmond-based
studio the owner of which turned
out to be Pete Thomas, drummer
for Elvis Costello's Attractions.
He particularly liked the sound
of the music they were working
on and offered to play percussion
on any material they wished.
Through commitments to his
family Birss was unable to
make the risky move to London
and so Dolphin were left drummer-less.
They took Thomas up on his
drumming offer and the band
planned to demo 7 new songs
with him. Scheduled between
sessions for the hugely successful
Sheryl Crow album, a Suzanne
Vega tour and album, and his
work with the new Elvis Costello
album, Thomas agreed to record
drums for the lowly 3 piece
from Christchurch New Zealand,
in his own studio, effectively
waiving his usually sizeable
performance fee and the studio
fee as well.
Stokes commitment to his studio
day job meant he was unable
to attend the two day recording
session, leaving Mayes to engineer
and produce the new songs with
Thomas. They completed 6 tracks
including the song Heatseeking.
The 7th track eventually ending
up as side project Astro64's
'Wasting It On You'.
Over the next few months Dolphin
continued to work on their
recordings adding guitars and
writing lyrics. They then sent
out a series of 5 demo cassettes,
each containing 2 or more songs,
to various London-based labels
and A&R people, most of
which never got listened to.
The band spent time auditioning
and searching for a suitable
drummer to replace Birss full
time, Pete Thomas being interested
but unable to fit it into his
schedule. After months of auditioning
the worst drummers either member
had ever come across Mayes
and Stokes decided to perform
their songs to a backing tape
of the drums from material
they had recorded so far.
They secured the support slot
to Australian band TISM's Mean
Fiddler London gig, and performed
a set of their heavy melodic
power pop to a confused audience,
looking for the drummer or
drum machine.
In October the band auditioned
American drummer Tracy Thompkins.
At age 22 Tracy had very little
experience in rock bands, her
main experience being in a
marching band and later in
a generic college basement
band. She could however hit
drums with attitude, and so
in lieu of other suitable drummers,
and the expanding length of
time it was taking the band
to be able to show London what
made them so successful in
New Zealand it was decided
to take on Thompkins and work
her up to the band's level.
Mayes & Thompkins rehearsed
for the next few weeks then
as a band rehearsed for another
2 months and performed their
first gig at the splash club
- Camden Falcon with other
ex-NZers Tongue (Julie Dolphin)
in support. One further slot
was played at The Orange in
West Kensington before the
band decided to change their
name due to a number of London-based
bands having the word dolphin
in their name.
Dolphin became Delphy.
Delphy comes from the song
title "Julie Delphy's
Eyes", a song about mass
obsession toward the elite
few, in this case an imaginary
case of American youths obsession
with the French film star.
The band had already called
themselves Delphy before they
discovered that there is no
H in the stars name, thus the
band are named after a spelling
mistake and shall probably
never get the chance to meet
the French film star.
In May 1997 Delphy performed
the first in their last set
of London gigs, drummer Thompkins
having to return to the US
because her visa to stay in
the UK had run out.
The band were hoping to finally
get one of the many A&R
representatives from the contacted
record labels to actually show
up at a gig so they could get
on with the business of making
music.
They played probably their
best London show at the Bull
And Gate at the end of May
1997, followed by a slot in
early June at Camden's Dublin
Castle. Both gigs were well
attended but not by the record
industry. One final show was
played at the Finsbury Park
Powerhaus, and the band entered
the studio to record 5 new
songs written while drummer
Thompkins was in the band.
Four of these tracks would
appear on the bands soon to
be released EP.
The band decided to perform
a tour of the East Coast of
America due to Thompkins having
to return to the States and
Mayes wishing to take a break
from the UK.
Many people who saw Delphy
play their London show commented
that they had an American edge
to their music, probably a
spin off of the earlier Husker
Du influence.
In August of 1997 the band
self-release the mini album
"Heatseeking",
to be used primarily as a demo
for American record
labels.
The CD contained 4 songs from
the most recent sessions with
Thompkins on drums, and one
song each from the sessions
with Pete Thomas and Steve
Birss.
A nine date tour was arranged
for the end of October and
early November.
The band performed the series
of nine dates on a shoestring
budget starting in New York
and taking in Boston, Philadelphia,
Washington, Hoboken NJ, and
Hokassen, Thompkins home town.
The virtually unknown band
played successful sets to the
hugely impressed audiences
who had happened into the venues
more or less by chance. The
tour ended with gigs in Boston's
TT The Bears and lastly at
influential New York Venue
Brownies, where a couple of
A&R types were to attend.
The band were in luck this
time as a US music lawyer,
(the American equivalent of
a talent agent), attended the
gig, and suitably impressed
by the bands performance agreed
to act on the band's behalf
in securing a record contract.
He considered a USD$200,000
deal likely.
Stokes had to return to London
to continue his day job as
studio engineer but on a high
after the successful tour was
committed to continuing working
with the band. A second series
of American concerts were needed
to secure a record deal via
the music lawyer and these
were tentatively scheduled
for the American spring in
April, allowing the band to
recoup some energy, Mayes and
Thompkins journeying to New
Zealand to continue work and
rest, Stokes to London to resume
his sole source of income.
A highlight for Mayes and
Thompkins, (both committed
fans of the British band The
Cure) was meeting Robert Smith
after their November 1997 Philadelphia
show, after Thompkins in a
particularly American turn
decided to 'stalk' the band
to their hotel from the concert.
Smith was presented with a
copy of the band's CD which
contained a contact email address
for the band. A month later
the band received an email
from Smith congratulating them
on their music and enquiring
about the band's future plans.
The follow up tour did not
happen with Stokes remaining
in London.
Mayes and Thompkins returned
to New York to recruit a new
singer in the hope of continue
with their music, but a suitable
replacement could not be found.
Delphy completed a further
12 tracks including the and
aptly titled "Cave Me
In" from the band's sessions
with Thompkins drumming.
These tracks were released
as the "Bring It All Down" album
in April 2005.
Stokes followed on with his
job at River Studios in London
then moved to work in subtitling.
He now plays in Souther Still
with fellow NZers in london.
They have 2 albums.
Rob Mayes returned to Christchurch
New Zealand where he runs a
digital recording studio, and
continues to work on music
projects, notably his "solo" project
Astro64 and his band projects
Springloader and Throw, and
more recently Eskimo.
The retrospective
EPs album was
released in 2005 alongside
a demos and rarities album
"Listen".
Also in 2005 EMI released a
2-CD set of important Christchurch
bands, including the track
'If
Only I Could Hold You (Once
Again)'.
Birss and Mayes performed 2
songs at the launch party for
the album with Hooster's Ed
Loughnan filling in on vocals
for Stokes.
In 2006 Japanese label Freshwater
released a compilation of key
tracks off the 4 albums called
"Waiting
For Splashdown".
The band are considering a
few live shows sometime.....
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